Philippines: CPP calls for removal of US military presence

The following statement calls for an end to the recent resurgence of US military involvement in the Philippines. Thanks to Democracy and Class Struggle for making this available.

Repeal of US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty will help in peaceful resolution of South China Sea conflicts — Communist Party of the Philippines

Communist Party of the Philippines

3 May, 2012

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) urged the Filipino people to push for the repeal of the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 and the pullout of all American military troops in the Philippines in order to ease military and diplomatic tensions over the Scarborough Shoal and Spratly Islands and pave the way for the peaceful resolution of the conflict and build mutually beneficial relations with both China and the US.

The CPP issued this statement a day after security and defense officials of the Aquino and US governments met in Washington DC. The US government promised to allow the Aquino government to purchase another Hamilton-class cutter from the American military scrap yard after officials of the Aquino regime mendaciously appealed for US support in order “for the Philippines to be minimally relied upon as a US regional partner.”

“The continued American military buildup in the South China Sea through the transfer of war materiél to puppet Philippine troops under the cloak of the US-RP MDT continues to stoke conflicts with China, instead of help resolve it peacefully,” said the CPP.

The CPP has earlier called on the Chinese government “to stand down, put an end to its aggressive posturing and pull out its armed patrol ships” from the disputed areas in order to ease tensions. It pointed out, however, that “a peaceful and mutually beneficial resolution of the territorial conflicts with China over the Scarborough Shoal and Spratly Islands will be almost impossible to achieve as long as there is direct or indirect US interference.”

The Filipino people should push for the immediate abrogation of the MDT and the Visiting Forces Agreement and for the pullout of US military troops in the Philippines in order to make make possible the peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the conflicts.”

“Increased US military presence in the Philippines and in the South China Sea in the past several years has been the compulsion behind the heightened alertness of China to secure its international perimeters against what it perceives as US threats to its sovereignty,” said the CPP. “Through the MDT, the US is able to use the Philippines as a pawn in its geo-political strategy to establish its hegemony over the Asia-Pacific.”

“The US plan is clear: heighten its military presence in the South China Sea in order to contain China’s growth and make it more compliant with US demands for the further opening up of its economy and the dismantling of state-owned enterprises, while provoking China to build up its military strength and stoking conflicts in order to justify the further buildup of US military presence in the region in the name of ‘freedom of navigation’ and other US imperialist-contrived principles,” added the CPP.

“The Aquino regime is shamelessly toadying to the US strategy and surrendering Philippine sovereignty to the US only for the privilege to be allowed to acquire a few discarded American scrap military hardware,” said the CPP. “The Aquino regime’s mendicant foreign policy is in full throttle when it sought to have the US state a clear position favoring Philippine claims over the Spratly islands and Scarborough Shoal while presenting the US government with a wish list of military hardware including sea patrol vessels, aircraft and radars.